Quick and Easy Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats

Here is a fail-proof recipe to make Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats and 4 ways to top your oats! Add any milk you want to make it high fat, low fat, vegan, vegetarian, whichever way you like.

I couldn’t be happier with the result of multiple recipe tests. I LOVE LOVE LOVE steel cut oats, just as much as I love Instant Pot brown rice. Both taste so much better than their more processed cousins. They are obviously also healthier than their cousins.

However, they used to have one disadvantage that was so dominant, that I didn’t make them much: they take forever to cook in a regular pot! Ever since I own a Pressure Cooker I can’t get enough of brown rice and steel cut oats. YUM!!!

This amazing Instant Pot does ALL the work without assistance or supervision and it does the work much faster than a regular pot. ALSO, it just cooks stuff so much better. Quinoa, rice, oats…they simply come out perrrrfect!

My absolute favorite part about having a pressure cooker now though is probably that I can cook complete meals in it such as Peruvian-Style Chicken and Rice.

Now to the basics of How to cook Steel Cut Oats in a Pressure Cooker though:

How to cook the best Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats

I’ve tried all kinds of combinations of high pressure, low pressure, long cooking with manual pressure release, short cooking with natural pressure release, cow’s milk, almond milk, loads of water, very little water and the magical formula in my opinion is this:

1 part oats to 2 parts water (e.g. 1.5 cups oats to 3 cups water) + a pinch of salt

Best liquid to add to Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats

Hands down water!! For many reasons. Cooking milk under high pressure kind of end ups super weird.

The best advantage of cooking steel cut oats in water however is that they will taste “neutral”. They are low fat, vegan and basically tasteless. They just have an amazing texture with which you can now work to transform into your favorite breakfast bowl.

Besides, if you add cold milk it helps speed up the cooling process. There is no harder thing to do in life than sit in front of a boiling hot bowl of oats unable to eat them despite blowing and blowing on them until you feel like you’re going to faint. Add ice cold milk, give it a quick stir and it’s ready to eat!

Pressure Cooker Steel Cut Oats Time

Let’s talk about timing! And let’s get into the details of quick pressure release and natural pressure release here.

After extensive testing I figured out 3 minutes on high pressure breaks down the grain but it needs natural pressure release to get silky smooth without falling apart.

Imagine boiling your steel cut oats in constantly boiling water and eventually when it’s cooked take it out of the water, just like you would cook pasta. Ever tried? Why not? Nobody suggests doing that, right? Because it simply doesn’t turn out well. The oats overcook and absorb way too much water that way. They become a big mush tasting like absolutely nothing because it’s full of water.

You have to “steam” oats but they also need to absorb enough water so they break down.

So the magic formula is 3 minutes of pressure cooking to break down the oats and 16-18 minutes natural pressure release to “steam” them so they can absorb the exact amount of water necessary.

Best ways to top the best Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats

How does strawberry, hazelnut and dark chocolate sound? I thought so. This one was gobbled up in less than 3 seconds by my daughter.

She’s inherited the nuts and chocolate love from her dad. She literally couldn’t believe her luck when I served her this bowl for dinner. Haha! Yes, for dinner because that’s when I was finally finished photographing these gorgeous bowls :P

This almond butter and cherry bowl I chose for myself because the combination of nut butter + cheery is UNBEATABLE in my opinion.

My son immediately pointed at the raspberry, white chocolate, chia bowl. He’s not a chocolate fan with exception of white chocolate and how couldn’t he? It’s the best tasting chocolate ever :P

Raspberries mixed into steel cut oats taste uh-mazing. The slight sourness and at the same time sweetness offer a feast for your senses.

It was super hard to leave the peach, pecan, blueberry bowl for my husband. We saved it for his breakfast the best day but only after each of us giving it a small (ok, who am I kidding?) BIG bite to try how it tastes.

OMG!!! Sooooo goood!!! Pecans and peaches and instant oats were probably married in their past life. Seriously!

Now tell me, which Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats Bowl will you try first? Which one do you think will be your favorite and which one ended up really being your favorite? You know what? I tried them all and I can’t make up my mind!!!

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat instant pot by pressing the "saute" button. Once hot, add coconut oil and once melted steel cut oats in order to toast them for a little (about 2 minutes) while constantly stirring.

Add a pinch of salt and water, give it a quick stir and cover with lid and seal.

Press, "cancel" then "manual" and adjust time to 3 minutes and pressure to "high pressure".

Go take a shower or do whatever else you have to do for the next 20-ish minutes. The pot will take about 3-5 minutest to get to pressure, 3 minutes for cooking and 16-18 minutes for natural pressure release).

Once the pin dropped (if it doesn't drop after 20 minutes manually release left over pressure, there should be close to nothing in it anymore), open the lid, add maple syrup and your milk of choice a little at a time while stirring until you reach desired consistency and wetness of your oats. Some like it drier others swimming in milk.

Top with your favorite topping combo (see notes or photos) and dig in!

Recipe Notes

Optional topping combos:
Strawberry, hazelnut, dark chocolate
Almond Butter, cherry
Raspberry, white chocolate, chia
Peach, blueberry, pecan
OPTIONAL: edible flowers for decoration
You can store the steel cut oats with milk and sweetener but without toppings in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days without a problem.

Reader Interactions

Comments

These all look delicious!! I am yet to use the timer function on my Ipot & over here in the UK people on Facebook have been raving about coming downstairs in the morning to ready cooked oats after preparing the night before & setting the timer for it to be ready for breakfast time! So, my question to you is have you tried to do your oats this way and if yes what timings did you use? Many thanks for your recipes, I just stumbled upon your page by accident but from what I’ve seen so far I’m going to be here A LOT so you’re in my saved favourites :-D

Hi Michelle, I haven’t used the time yet either. The thing is it works so fast I’ve never really needed it. Coming to pressure plus 3 minutes high pressure plus natural pressure release comes to maybe 20-25 minutes with my Instant Pot. I always get up 45 minutes before I have to leave the house so that’s plenty of time. I wonder if by using the timer you’d have to reduce the cooking time because the oats would have been soaking in the water all night. Hmmm. I would try add ingredients the latest possible and then set timer so everything is ready by the time you want to have breakfast and I’d reduce high pressure cooking time to maybe 1 minute only. Should “in theory” be enough. But I’ve obviously never tried. Thank you for your lovely comment and I hope you enjoy my page now that you found it :D

Hi Lorena, had a busy couple of weeks so not had chance yet to try any of your recipes BUT I have been doing porridge oats every evening using the timer function! Took me a few attempts at getting the water/oats ratio just right for my liking but I’ve about perfected it! Using your methods as a rough guide I have been using 40g oats with 200-300mls of water, depending on what time I set them for, so the later I set the timer the less water I need. I also stir in a teaspoon of green tea powder when I prepare the oats for a morning boost. Timer finishes at 6am so by the time I come downstairs at 6.30 my oats are lovely & thick ready to stir in some homemade Instant Pot yoghurt & top with blueberries or raspberries (or both!) and that’s me good to go for the day! Now to convert your Peruvian Green Rice recipe for the Pot, I have a huge bunch of coriander to use, it’s my favourite herb (and basil!!).
Michelle :-D

I make it on the weekend and freeze the oats in microwaveable containers sized by breakfast portions. (I make enough for 5 portions). I take out the frozen portion the night before otherwise they take forever to reheat. I also put my toppings in a separate container. In the morning, I reheat the oats in the microwave (stopping every minute to stir. Usually takes 2 to 3 minutes). I then add the toppings. Quick Breakfast!!

Zubalea’s methods works really well if you like. I just keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days as oats/water mixture only. I don’t add milk and maple syrup when keeping in fridge, I add milk and maple syrup and fruits/nuts etc right before serving. Also, I love just bringing the milk to an almost boil and then add to the fridge-cold oats to warm up to my favorite temperature. I hate sitting in front of oats that are too hot and I can’t eat them. By adding hot milk to cold oats I get the perfect temperature to gobble up right away :P

Hi Lindsay, I use it to toast the steel cut oats in it and so they get kind of “infused” with the oil. If you don’t like coconut oil you can use any other flavorless oil or even no oil at all. It’ll work either way :)

Hi Kim, I’ve never cooked other oats in the Instant Pot unfortunately so I couldn’t tell. You’ll have to give it a try. I would guess it’s just 1 minute high pressure and then natural pressure release but I can’t say for sure.

I’m getting an Instant Pot for Christmas and will have to try steel cut oats. I like to eat savory oats for dinner with roasted veggies, goat cheese, and either a poached egg or smoked salmon. It’s so good!